As you know, we had the pleasure of setting up A POP-UP {SHOP} at Volver Studio at 126 James Street North in Hamilton, ON this Friday, and it was a blast! Just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who made their way up to the third floor, and especially THANKS to our loyal patrons who keep the dream alive.

I know a lot of our international friends and followers are not able to readily see what we are up to in the flesh, but perhaps a digital gallery can suffice.

We went for our signature time-traveled look, which was all the more amplified by the incredibly gorgeous space.

Hope you enjoyed the view!

Hoping to get more and more of this stuff online into the New Year, so stay tuned, or if you see something that is catching your eye and need more information email us at: the.eye.of.faith@gmail.com

When it comes to achieving that legendary Ivy Style, one shouldn’t have to think too much at all.

When we came across this simple spread from 1955 we were struck with the straight forwardness of the editorial, as well as the run-down on how to achieve that Ivy Look.

The article was so fascinating and perfect, we had no choice but to share and feature it with our readers here at The Eye. Knowing the ins and outs of the Ivy Look is essential for any style enthusiast, so it was only right we help educate and relate!

The key really is having those classic and timeless pieces in your wardrobe so that you’re not really having to worry so much about how it’s all coming together. You take your hand, and you touch that sports coat or shirt and all the sudden it is fused to your being for the day.

Sometimes it just feels right. The best part about it is, you can see that it’s not necessarily about being some kind of perfect specimen, at all. In fact, it is much more about pairing the unexpected, and contrasting patterns and textures in curious ways to make those around you take that second look and say “Whoa! That guy has got it together!”

At that, my friends, will make you feel damn good.

So, what’s that acronym again they are always saying? K.I.S.S….You don’t have to do much but be yourself, be comfortable, and show off a little.

There is no doubt that the world would not be the same place if it hadn’t been for Alan Turing [b. 23 June 1912 – d. 7 June 1954]. In fact, you wouldn’t be reading this delectable morsel if it weren’t for the incredible genius of this British mathematician in developing the modern day computer.

A prophet of mathematics, with a natural inclination to numbers and science, Turing entered King’s College in 1931 and graduated Honors in Mathematics pioneering the working model for the Turing Machine, which operated on “Algorithims” that would make computing any mathematical problem conceivable. Obtaining a PhD from Princeton in June 1938, Turing furthered his concepts introducing oracles that could plan and solve complex problems that the Turing Machine was unable to compute.

It wasn’t until war time that Turing’s incredible genius would truly be implored, joining the German code-breaking team at Bletchley Park in September 1938. Using his profound wizardry in the realm of numbers, Turing was able to develop a statistical approach using computing machines to decode the impossible German Enigma-codes. This would ultimately provide the Allies with a major advantage in winning the war.

Turing was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his services during wartime.

Turing also applied his mathematical brilliance in the fields of biology, imploring mathematical thought to the idea of pattern formation in nature. He also used mathematics to develop the foundations for the science behind morphogenesis – how biological forms come to be.

So in short, a {Hero}.

However, although interesting, it’s not his mathematic, scientific, or civil achievements that really caught our attention. It is, in fact, his mysterious and bizarre death.

It all began quite innocently – the way these things always begin. After being victim to a petty burglary of his home in January of 1952, police investigations opened the flood gates, revealing Turing’s homosexuality, which in fact was illegal in the UK at this point. Wanting to evade going to prison, Turing was able to go on probation after agreeing to a chemical castration that would require him to take injects of stilboestrol, a synthetic estrogen hormone.

Perhaps the injects caused moments of weakness or uncertainty, as various mood disorders and physical ailments have now been attributed to stilboestrol. And while he is recorded as throwing “such a jolly [tea] party” for a neighbour and her son four days before he died, he was found in the most macabre of circumstances: laying in bed with a half-eaten apple at his side.

If this sounds like fairy tale, don’t be mistaken, the past is a twisted and dark place, but there’s no denying the comparison to Turing’s death and the story of Snow White and The Seven Dwarves – Turing’s recorded favourite fairy tale. Novelist David Leavitt quotes that the mathematical genius took “an especially keen pleasure in the scene where the Wicked Queen immerses her apple in the poisonous brew.”

Many have speculated that Turing may have soaked the apple in poison as an homage to his favorite tale of dark pleasure and deceit, others (his mother particularly) have asserted that Turing was in fact just careless when it came to storing his lab chemicals. Whatever the truth may be, the circumstances surrounding Turing’s untimely demise are as fascinating as his science. His death was ruled a suicide, but recent discoveries seem to point in other directions.

Perhaps it was just a way to say good-bye to a cruel world, unwilling to accept the man, no matter how great his genius. He was but the innocent, and it was a truly unjust society that would poison the likes of such an incredible mind.

Luckily, Turing’s legacy lives on every we look. From this computer screen, to our televisions, and phones, the airplanes in the sky, the subway beneath my feet – all these things and more would not be possible without Turing’s ingenuity and courage to innovate.

The Pompadour.

We’ve been seeing a lot of these, as of late, on our virtual style quests, and find this mythic hairstyle’s history absolutely fascinating. The hair-doe characterized by its voluminous waves and carefully coiffed height was first coined in the 18th Century after French aristocrat, Madame de Pompadour – the mistress of King Louis XV. The style was later revived in the later part of the 19th Century and onward through the First World War, and became synonymous with the “Gibson Girl” ideal of beauty popularized in this era. The do became a “Do” again, in vogue, as a much tighter version of it could be seen on Hollywood movie starlets of the ’40s like Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. However, it would be the 1950s that would totally turn the style around, and have the men sporting the look. Popularized by rock stars of the day like Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, and Billy Fury, as well as actors like James Dean. The style was quickly taken up by youth culture and society’s outcasts to become a staple of counter culture style and individual beauty. From movie stars to street gangs, the style was versatile, slick, and of course, “cool”.

Bottega Veneta, 2012

The rest is history, as even today, hundreds of style obsessed and nostalgia driven guys (like ourself) pain away the day to get their hair high and enough waves to keep it up there. What do they say again? “The higher the hair, the closer to God”. In that case, we might be looking at the Tower of Babel of Hair with how popular the Pompadour is getting. Check out this latest {PHOTO-BLAST} for a one-of-a-kind blast to the past of “Pomp + Circumstance”. . .

When it comes to fashion, men often find it rather challenging to create their own style.

The reason for this, arguably, may be that men’s fashion is more streamlined with often fewer options to create an individual look and style. This is especially true in business fashion, where the dress-codes for men tend to be exactly defined.

While clearly defined dress-codes make the selection for the right business attire easier, they also hold one decisive disadvantage for the stylish and style-conscious man: this uniformity makes it a lot harder to create an individual style.

Matching tie and shirt

This is where stylish men’s accessories come into play. They provide a subtle way of underlining one’s own style and sense of fashion in the often rigid business world. This is why, when it comes to stylish business accessories, the devil is in the detail.

Hereby, the tie that one wears in combination with the suit can be a statement in itself.

The tie is the part of the business attire that shows the largest variation in colors, patterns and styles. When picking a tie, it should provide a contrast to the shirt, which can be created by observing some color matching patterns. The style-conscious man will seek to stand out in the streamlined business fashion by either wearing a stylish shirt or a unique tie.

Elegant watches – The perfect accessory

When it comes to accessories, there is arguably nothing more stylish than wearing a unique and timeless watch.

While today there are many precise timekeeping devices available, trademark watches have lost none of their appeal in modern times. On the contrary, brands like Cartier are more popular than ever before, since they provide an essentially manly accessory that combines technology, fine craftsmanship and art.

These features make premium watches the confident and style-conscious man’s best friend.

2012 has been the most exciting of years for us here at The Eye of Faith.

Apart from surviving the End of the World (what happened ? ? ?), so many wicked memories have been made. When we embarked on this endeavor we had an almost supernatural sensibility guiding us, and at the end of the year, it is fantastic to see this other worldly vision take us to the places it did!

We are looking forward to meeting more of you, and hearing your stories, too! 2013 promises to be a productive and exciting New Year for anyone who is willing to get on board the train of evolution. Not the kind of evolution where your eyes can start to see through walls, but the evolution, in part from technology, and in part from the new awareness in the world.

If you are able to embrace this awareness, the world can truly be your oyster!

But until 2013 truly begins, please enjoy the last beautiful moments of 2012, a most mysterious year, and the final morsels of memory it has to give!

They always say: “God is in the Details” and every time there is the opportunity to watch AMC‘s pinnacle of television drama, “Mad Men” we are boldly reminded of this fact! So here goes our “Close Up” of some of the ties, rings, and things the men are wearing this season.

Five episodes into the long awaited fifth season (almost a year and a half!) and Matthew Weiner and his talented team have already lifted the bar, and continue to raise it as the seconds count down on each new episode.

Full of all the racism, sexism, cigarette smoking, adultery, feminism, and homophobia that characterizes the era, Mad Men has made success from context and exploited it against our own. It’s fun to see the evolution of the characters, changing or not changing with the ticking of the clock.

The men of Sterling Cooper Draper Price (Say that three times fast) haven’t much changed, but the evolution is there in their wardrobe. We are beginning to see the times liberating the characters and their style. There is a casualness, a cool that stemmed in America from the Beat movement, and an undeniable pull from the European art flicks of Fellini and the French New Wave.

Speaking of French New Wave, we have the bright return of talented Canadian actress Jessica Paré as Megan, Don’s new 20-something wife. Pare is such a talent; so charismatic, and just strikingly gorgeous. She had her screen debut in Denys Arcand’s “Stardom” where she played a normal Canadian girl who becomes a high fashion supermodel. [FASHION LOVERS WATCH TRAILER]

On the other end of the scale, Betty is still around residing in her “haunted mansion” (a grim corner property definitely rivaling the Gothic grandeur of the house in American Horror Story ) with her politician husband, and three children. With a house that big, it’s no surprise Betty is feeling engulfed by this new marriage.

Everyone is worried about her, mostly because she’s fat. Compared to the dainty used to be model Grace Kelly look-a-like, this Betty is shocking. It’s really fun to see her like this, though. Count on an Emmy Award for those prosthetics! Absolutely Freaky! My guess is she’ll stay this way for a while.

One of the other delights is definitely Sally Draper. She’s no little girl anymore. She’s in that fantastic age where your mind is opening to different facets of the life that surrounds you. Growing up is hard, and I’m guessing this isn’t going to come naturally to her. Especially between homes, the dynamic between her parents is definitely straining, and she’s managed to pick up some angst and attitude from them on the way.

As movie theaters switch from film to digital projection, home flat-screens take up a wall, Blu-Ray discs exhume masterpiece-painting volumes of color and intricate detail from popular releases, and the unholy moviegoing experience cries out for human-pest control, cinema has lost its sanctuary allure and aesthetic edge over television, which as a medium has the evolutionary advantage. Movies will never die, not as long as a director like Terrence Malick can make every green blade of grass sway like the first dance of creation, but TV is where the action is, the addictions forged, the dream machine operating on all cylinders. As I write this, the Academy Awards are a few days away, with The Artist the odds-on best-picture winner. Does anyone think The Artist is better than Mad Men?

I guess everyone knows the answer to that… And if this season is any proof, Wolcott is definitely onto something! Mad Men indeed transports you, and the best part is it doesn’t ask you to go any farther than your living room to take a trip through time.

Mad Men is truly such a treat. It is really the perfect dichotomy of performance, writing, and production. After an episode, or entire day, there are definitely a million things you can take away. For a true vintage nut, this latest season of Mad Men is off to a great new start, and it’s hard to get enough!

CLOTHING & LIFESTYLE Blog: Explorations of the [past/present/future]

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The men and women who inspire…Style Idols and Divinities are unique individuals with style beyond the things they wear, but also the way they lived. Delve into their unique stories accompanied by an expansive array of photos to muse over!

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NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

The Eye of Faith {Vintage} is a brand dedicated to integrating time traveled wisdom from the {past} with the {present} to help shape the {future}. It is an age old symbol of believing in oneself, and having faith in your dreams. No longer must we be lost. We are a burgeoning society dedicated to an alternative to the purchase of affordable fashion forward apparel, accessories, and home decor. We also provide design services and consultation, as well as costume and styling. At our core, we are a source of inspiration and musing.
Please enjoy your time here.
If you have any questions, please email the.eye.of.faith@gmail.com